Coinkite Web Wallet Is Shutting Down Soon

Coinkite is a company best known for their hardware Bitcoin solutions, such as their infamous payment terminal and plastic cards. But at the same time, this company also offered their own web wallet, which allowed users to store some of their funds. Bitcoin was always designed to let people be their own bank, and Coinkite has taken that thought to heart as they are shutting down their web wallet service very soon.

Coinkite Web Wallet Is Shutting Down

It is important for any business in the Bitcoin world to focus on the services that matter to users, as those will help advance the ecosystem as a whole. Unfortunately for Coinkite users, the web wallet is not on the shortlist, as the company believes in customers being their own bank and controlling their own funds.

Coinkite remains a business dedicated to the Bitcoin protocol and ecosystem, but the focus will shift even more towards the hardware side of things. However, the software products are not being abandoned completely, although the team would rather not venture into the SaaS business in the future, as that is not what the original goal of Coinkite is.

Bitcoin empowers users all over the world to become their own bank and take back the financial control that is rightfully theirs. Cutting out the middlemen is a major step towards achieving that goal, and Coinkite’s web wallet was acting as an intermediary in a way. It seems to make sense to shut down this service completely, as the time for handholding is over.

For the time being, no new user signups will be accepted for the Coinkite wallet, and no new API keys will be issued. Moreover, the API will be disabled completed in the next 14 days, and Tor access will no longer be possible. Balances will need to be withdrawn within the next 30 days, although manual withdrawal requests can still be made after this cut-off date.

Coinkite also issued a warning regarding potential phishing attacks against users, as this scenario creates an opportunity for internet criminals to obtain some coins from people looking to make a withdrawal. The real company will never ask users to click links embedded in an email.

About The Author

JP Buntinx is a 30-year old FinTech and Bitcoin enthusiast living in Belgium. His passion for finance and technology made him one of the world's leading freelance Bitcoin writers, and he is working to achieve the same level of respect in the FinTech sector.